


All the King's Horses

by TintedPink



Series: The Avengers Polycule [7]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Pepperony, F/M, Get Together, Just dorks being dorks, M/M, Multi, Panic Attacks, Supportive Pepper, supportive tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2020-10-05 18:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20493356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TintedPink/pseuds/TintedPink
Summary: Stephen gets some help with a panic attack. Then he gets help with his (not) relationship.





	1. All The King's Horses and All the King's Men

**Author's Note:**

> So DrPepperony is my jam rn. Expect more?   
This fic is the first in this series, chronologically. Every other fic has DrPepperony as established, but this is the beginning(ish) of their get together.  
Title taken from "All the King's Horses" by Karmina. Great song. I'm not actually sure how well it relates to this fic, I just liked it.   
Enjoy :)

Stephen takes a deep breath through the non-existent restraint around his neck. He knows it’s not real. He’s touched his neck with shaking hands and felt that there was nothing there. He’s reached out with his magic and has sensed that no one is attacking him. He forces himself to breath through the non-existent restraint and closes his eyes to focus his energy on his breath.

Panic attack, his doctor hindbrain supplies, but it’s ignored. Stephen barely has the composure to keep breathing. He can’t analyze the root of his problem, not while he’s in the middle of it.

He forces his chest to expand and contract, to take in air despite his mind telling him that he can’t. His throat is not constricted. His blood needs to be oxygenated. He needs to breathe.

He jumps when a hand touches his shoulder. His eyes open and he’s staring directly at Tony Stark, who should not be able to come into his room without his knowledge, but apparently had.

“You’re doing good.” Tony says and it exasperates Stephen. He doesn’t need coaching. He doesn’t need help. He’s been handling it perfectly fine on his own. He’s always handled it perfectly fine on his own.

He forces himself to breath through the non-existent restraint around his neck.

“You’re doing really well, Strange. Let’s do another one.”

Tony is following along with Stephen’s breath and Stephen finds his eyes focusing on a glowing blue and metal beacon in Tony’s chest, watching it move with every one of Tony’s breaths. It’s easier to look at than Tony’s eyes, eyes that are too familiar, shouldn’t be but are. 

“There you go. Whatever helps.” Tony keeps breathing, in time with Stephen’s breaths, not any faster or slower. “You’re doing good, Steph. Pep, yeah, I got him, don’t worry.” 

Stephen doesn’t see Tony answer his phone, but he must have, at some point, because he doesn’t sense Pepper in the room. He throws his energy out like a beacon and can’t sense her. He wishes she was there. “Yes, we’re good. Keep breathing Stephen.” Tony squeezes his shoulder and Stephen looks up at him helplessly. He was. He had been. What more did Tony want?

Tony kissed Stephen on the temple, but immediately pulled back when he realized it hid his arc reactor from Stephen’s view. Stephen wished he wouldn’t pull back.

It’s only a few minutes later that Tony pulls Stephen in against his chest, resting his head in the crook of his neck. “That’s right. You got through it. You did good, Stephen, you did good calling me.”   
“Didn’t.” Stephen mumbles, still forcing himself to breathe in a regular even meter, not trusting his body to breathe on it’s own just yet. 

“Sure you did. Friday alerted me when you hit the panic button on your phone.”

Stephen doesn’t know when he did that, but he’s glad he did.

“You alright for now? Want to stand up? We’ll get you some water.”

Stephen can only nod, his mind still spinning and trying desperately not to end up back where it had been. 

They stand together, and Stephen is leaning more on Tony than he’d like to admit. Tony doesn’t mind, could probably pick Stephen up and carry him all the way to the elevator, but won’t. Wouldn’t. 

Stephen is eternally grateful to Tony, and Pepper, for the kindness and consideration they show him. Tony doesn’t ask what triggered it. He doesn’t ask if Stephen is “done.” He helps Stephen to sit down in a plush chair and squeezes his forearms before he leaves the room for a glass of water. Stephen follows his life-force to the small attached kitchen in his tower apartment, and then back again. The glass of water is tall and has a straw, which Stephen is grateful for. 

“Thank you,” he manages to say when Tony sets the glass near enough to the edge of the table sitting on his side that he can just lean over and sip from it. 

“Of course, anytime.” 

Tony takes a seat in the identical plush chair on the other side of the end table his glass is set on, and pulls out his phone. Stephen watches him, because the movements of Tony’s hands are a good distraction from the still-racing thoughts that he’s trying not to focus on. 

And then Tony starts talking. Stephen breathes a sigh of relief that releases tension he hadn’t even realized he was still holding as Tony explains the intricate details of his more recent schematic, things Stephen probably didn’t have a hope of understanding even if he was in a good headspace. As it stands, he focuses on Tony’s words, makes sense of the ones he knows, lets the rest of them string together meaninglessly as Tony’s voice chips away at the last of the panic.

“And that’s the wife.” Tony smiled, looking at Stephen as the holo-screen of his phone turns into a caller ID for Pepper. “I’m gonna take this, okay? One sec.”   
Tony hits accept call and is immediately greeted with a hologram of Pepper’s face.

“Tony!” She smiled, and she didn’t look outwardly frazzled except the corners of her mouth were too tight. “I hadn’t heard from you. Everything alright?”

“Yeah, Pep, everything’s all good. Want to say hi to Stephen?” He asked, but didn’t wait for a response before he turned her to face him. 

Stephen smiled half-heartedly and the tension in the corners of Pepper’s mouth relaxed. “Stephen, it’s good to see you. I didn’t know you were spending this weekend at the tower.” She doesn’t sound accusatory, they had told him that the apartment on their penthouse floor was always available for him, and he’d made use of it before without consulting with them, but it still felt good to have that little reassurance.

“Yeah. The other Sanctum Masters were… concerned that I was overworking myself.”

“You probably were.” Tony said, and Pepper nodded along with him.   
“We’re always happy to see you, Stephen. It’s Avengers team night, if you want to stop in? I think it’s…” She glances away from the screen and focuses somewhere just to the side. “It’s Clint’s turn,” she smiled, “He’ll probably bring the kids, which means it’s a Disney or Pixar night. We’ll make extra popcorn.”

She says it so certainly that Stephen doesn’t really have the heart to turn her down. 

“It’ll be good to get the team used to you. You’re officially an Avenger in, what, less than a month?” Tony added, “Assuming someone doesn’t screw up the paperwork at the last minute.” 

Pepper sighed. “If you just jinxed us, I’m going to throw you off the balcony.”

“Stephen, Pepper is making me feel unsafe. Protect me.” Tony pouts, and Stephen laughs and he feels a little less like a cardboard cut out trying to pass for a sorcerer.

“If she wants to throw you off her own balcony, I don’t have any right to stop her.”

“Thank you, Stephen.” Pepper smiled at him, and Stephen smiled back at her, her eyes bright even over the blue toned hologram. Stephen didn’t think of himself a romantic, but she seemed to be glowing, and he could have gotten lost in her eyes. 

Tony cleared his throat and turned the phone back towards himself. “Pepper, stop making eyes at him, I called dibs.”

“I thought we agreed to share.” Pepper said with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous lip bite. Stephen was a bit caught off guard, eyes widening as they… played a new game? Pepper had the same sort of look that she’d had when she was threatening to throw Tony off the balcony, except it was different in a way Stephen couldn’t quite put a finger on.

“You’re gonna scare him off, Ms. Potts.”

“We tried it your way, all the passive romantic gestures a man could ask for. It didn’t work. Now we’re trying it my way. Turn me back to Stephen.” 

Stephen glanced from the hologram to Tony, and back, not exactly following even as the hologram Pepper looked him directly in the eyes. 

“Stephen, we want you to sit with us during the Avengers movie night. Would you like to?”

Stephen stared at her, still not entirely down from the panic attack he’d had just a few minutes before, or maybe it was longer? How long had he been sitting there?

“Don’t keep us in suspense, please.” Tony smiled, just a trace of nerves in the crease of his forehead and the tension in his hand that held his phone.

Suddenly Stephen realized that they were serious. Completely and totally serious. 

“Su-Um, yes.” Stephen finally said, and when he saw the twin looks of pleasure on Tony and Pepper’s faces he straightened his posture a little bit. “But I’m not looking for a serious relationship right now.”

“That’s fine.” Pepper smiled brightly. “We know you’re busy, we just… want to spend more time with you.” Her eyes are mischievous now, and Stephen forgets how anxious he’d been (three hours) earlier. He forgets that he shouldn’t be letting himself get caught up with personal affairs. He’s the Master of the New York Sanctum. When does he have time to maintain a relationship? But a little bit of time having some fun with Pepper and Tony… can’t hurt. Probably.

“By more time, she definately means sex.” Tony cut in and Pepper rolled her eyes at him.

“Subtlety, Tony. Believe it or not, it works for some people.”

“Boring people.” Tony stood up and turned the phone back towards himself. “I’m going to get back to work, you,” he raised an eyebrow at Pepper, “Have a company to be running. Get to it, chop chop.”

She laughed and Tony turned his gaze to Stephen, his look softening. “And you need to have a nap. You look exhausted. We’ll catch you at the movie night, alright?” Tony stepped around the table and rested a hand on Stephen’s shoulder, squeezing it gently to reiterate his point. Stephen nodded mutely, not quite ready to move while he processed what was happening. 

“Will that be all Mr. Stark?” Pepper asked and Tony smiled at her.

“That’ll be all Ms. Potts. Say goodbye to Stephen.”

“Well turn me around then!” She laughed, and she was still laughing when Tony turned her to face him. “Have a good nap, Stephen. If you’re not ready by the time team night starts, don’t worry about it. It’s a come and go sort of thing. Friday will direct you where you need to go.”

“I’ll see you then.” Stephen said quietly and she smiled a genuinely pleased smile at him.

“I look forward to it,” with that she hang up and Tony put the phone back in his pocket. 

“I was serious about the nap.” He shook a non-plussed finger at Stephen who rolled his eyes.

“I don’t need to be told when to sleep. I’m not you.”

“You only dream of being as amazing as I am.”

“I usually call them nightmares, but sure.”

“God I like you.” Tony said with a smirk and then a small salute. “See you tonight, Steph.” Before he goes he pecks the sorcerer on the cheek, quickly to keep Stephen from trying to fend him off

Stephen couldn’t even be irritated by the annoying pet name Tony had taken to calling him because he was too busy thinking about that small kiss, those twin smirks. Stephen Strange was in trouble from the likes of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, but maybe just this once trouble wasn’t such a bad thing to be in.


	2. Actually Did Put Him Together Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a nap, Stephen goes to movie night. It shouldn't be this easy.

Falling asleep seemed like it would be impossible with all the thoughts of Pepper, Tony, and whatever he was about to get himself involved in acting like a tornado in his head, but as soon as he managed to get himself into bed, he was passed out, utterly exhausted.

He wakes up several hours later. The windows are dark and the room is almost pitch black. “Friday, light.” Stephen said, and the lights came up, fast and painfully bright. “Maybe less than that.” He corrected, and the lights dimmed to an acceptable brightness. “Thank you.” She doesn’t respond, but Stephen doesn’t really expect her to, her capacities are diminished to all but the most basic functions here.

He sits up and is hyper aware of the aches and pains in his body. The stress, he knows, makes it feel worse than it actually is, and time away will help, but he can’t help but wonder what might be happening that could require his assistance. 

Wong would call it self-importance. Stephen knows how vital it is to have all available sorcerers tending to an issue.

Stephen’s phone started to ring and he fished it out of his robes with shaking hands. He sees the caller ID is Tony, and it takes him a second to answer. He almost forgets why he feels the need to hesitate, but then he remembers himself. The sudden change of understanding between himself, Pepper, and Tony wasn’t a big deal. They’d even said so. It was fine.

“Tony,” Stephen said, rubbing his temples with one shaking hand. That only made his hand hurt more than it alleviated his headache, but it was a familiar gesture.

“Stephen, Friday told me you woke up.” Tony was whispering on the other end of the line, and Stephen remembered that they were supposed to be watching a movie. “We’re almost finished with Frozen, but once the kiddies go to bed, Steve’s talking about putting on one of his classics. Come and join us?”

Stephen thought about it for a second, weighed his dislike of company against possibly being fed and Pepper and Tony’s presence.

“I’ll be there. Just let me change.”

“Sure thing, take your time. Bring a snack from your kitchen if you’re not feeling up to pizza. The kids picked. They kind of always pick pizza.” He laughed like he was amused, and Stephen smiled to himself. 

“Pizza sounds great. Save me a seat?” Stephen regretted saying it as soon as he did, but when Tony just laughed and said, “We’ve been keeping it safe all night. Clint tried and muzzle in on our couch, but Pepper is very scary.”  
Stephen’s mouth quirked upward involuntarily, and he tried to force himself not to smile. “I’ll bet she is. See you in 20 minutes?” The phrase sounds so unnecessary and domestic, but he’s smiling again when Tony’s own response sounds delighted.

“20 minutes sounds great. I’ll tell Pepper you’re coming.” Tony hung up and Stephen was left smiling, looking at the dead screen of his phone.

Stephen arrived by elevator, which was gracefully silenced by Friday, even though half the room looked up at his entrance. The children sitting too close to the television with a picnic spread out in front of them. Tony waved him over where he and Pepper were sitting snuggled close together. Stephen felt a pang of something in his chest that left him aching even as he moved towards them.

Pepper scooted closer to Tony on the couch and patted the seat beside her, which was far too small for him not to be practically on top of her. He was in a comfortable set of sweatpants and a white tee shirt that he’d found in the closet that he’d never asked to be stocked, or provided his sizes for stocking purposes. They fit just the way he liked them, reminding him of his robes without being nearly as constructing. 

He sat down in the spot indicated and Pepper immediately turned herself so she was practically laying across his lap, her socked feet placed delicately on Tony’s. “Hi Stephen.” She whispered, knowing full well that pretty much everyone would be able to hear them. 

“Hi Pepper,” he smiled back, not able to help himself. “Sorry I’m late.”

“You look more rested already. I’m glad you got some sleep.” She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Tony said he got one, it only felt fair.” She whispered in his ear and Stephen was glad their couch wasn’t in the direct eyeline of anyone else.

Tony handed a cushion to Pepper, who put it behind her neck to pad the arm of the couch. “Is this okay?” She asked, once she was already settled, and of course, it was. It was strangely, easily okay. Tony’s hand that had been slung over Pepper’s shoulders was now reaching across the back of the couch and his fingertips brush easily against Stephen’s shoulder. 

Stephen finds it easy to relax into the last twenty minutes of the children’s movie, and even easier to stay sitting as the lights go up and the kids get taken off to bed by Clint Barton and a woman that can only be his wife. She looks too much like the children not to be. 

Pepper rolls her head and looks directly into Stephen’s eyes. “Comfortable?” She asked, and Stephen smiled down at her.

“Exceedingly. You’re an excellent blanket.” 

“She’s constantly cold, so you might regret admitting you like this.” Tony said, even as one of his hands carefully worked the arch of Pepper’s foot. 

“He’d never.” Pepper smiled, kicking lightly at Tony’s thigh with the other foot. 

“This is cute.” Clint said, popping his head down between Stephen and Tony’s, one small, sleepy child held in his arms. “So, whose courting who?”

“Frankly, Barton, it’s not any of your business.” Tony said, moving his hand from the back of the couch to push Barton’s face away from them. “I can and will ask Natasha for details about your sex like with Agent.”

“Whoa, whoa, no need to be hasty.” Barton said with a smile, backing away from the couch, bouncing the child in his arms to keep her asleep. “Natasha wouldn’t rat on me like that.”

“Can and would,” Natasha said from where her she was sitting upside down in a love seat, Steve feeding her the remnants of popcorn one kernel at a time. “Keep your nose out of other people’s business and learn to spy like the rest of us, Barton.”

Stephen smirked as Barton gave some mock-injured reply and leaned in to whisper in Pepper’s ear. “Is it always like this?”

“Yup. You’ll get used to it. Probably.” She smiled and pressed her foot into Tony’s thigh, urging him to keep up his massaging. He kissed her knee and complied, the easy intimacy of the whole thing made Stephen uncomfortable, only in so much as it made him feel like an interloper. 

He knew in a part of his brain that he was ignoring now that he’d had a long nap, that this wasn’t going to be casual. Not for them, and probably not for him either. It was a pretense, his wish for himself to have the intimacy of companionship without the risk. He should know by now, as a Master of the Mystic Arts, that there is nothing without risk. He shouldn’t split his time and energy between protecting the universe and caring about people. Not like this.

Even knowing that he still doesn’t shake away Pepper’s hand when it tangles lightly with his, her fingers delicate and careful not to put excessive pressure upon his. When Tony’s hand plays with the hair at the nape of his neck, he doesn’t fight it. When the movie starts and Pepper leans into his chest, he only smiles. It’s comfortable in so much as he misses human contact, has become practically desperate for it. He can’t even muster of the pretense of putting up with it. He enjoys the easy contact, the way a couple of people so intimate can just draw him in without fuss or fight, like he’s always been there.

It’s just so easy to accept the intimacy, to return it by way of squeezed hands, a nudge of his foot against Tony’s. It shouldn’t be. Stephen hasn’t been this physically close to another person since he was with Christine.

It shouldn’t be so easy to soak in their affection, but he finds it’s never been easier.

In a chair in front of them, Steve adjusts himself so that his hand is settled in Natasha’s bright red hair, stroking it and massaging her scalp with his fingertips while the movie plays. Natasha’s eyes are closed, and she’s mouthing something. Stephen thinks she’s just speaking along to the dialog, but when she continues mumbling even when no one is speaking, and Steve stifles a laugh by biting his knuckle, he realizes she must just be talking too low for anyone beside him to hear.

Clint came back and some point, and Laura was now settled between his legs, her head against his shoulder and one arm draped around his neck. Thor, Bruce, and Sam are all absent, but Stephen is fairly certain that it’s not some kind of slight. They just had other plans.

Stephen knows this strange little psuedo-family the Avengers have created isn’t always this stable, but sitting in a darkened room, with a movie playing and two people he knows he could come to care about in close proximity, he starts to believe that he may be able to be a part of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is establishing DrPepperony for this Universe. I kind of forgot myself, so Nat/Steve is in this, even though I think I'd decided Nat/Steve happened after DrPepperony, but honestly, I think it works alright here. It's maybe kind of early stages? Or something similar. I've also fudged the timelines a lot, but I don't remember how, so catch me re-reading all these fics and trying to figure out where I put what events and why. Also, the Avengers know Coulson isn't dead, and since I'm Clint/Coulson trash, they are probably going to make an appearance at some point. I'm just making a mess in my own sandbox for the sake of my enjoyment, and possibly yours. Let me know what you think or if you're confused about anything.

**Author's Note:**

> I like these little vignette style fics, but I also kind of want to work some more on the plot of this series? Assuming there is one? Idk. I'm pondering it. Also, when I get another free minute I'm going to make a chronological series, just in case anyone wants to read it like that. There's not much reason to plot wise, but if you would like to, I'll make that available eventually. :)


End file.
